Applications of 3D Printing for Polymers, 3rd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Polymer 3D printing is an emerging technology in both research and industry and has diverse applications ranging from prototypes to end-use designs. Three-dimensional printing uses additive manufacturing processes to fabricate designed parts using polymer materials including thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers, biomaterials, and more. Polymer printing is advantageous because of its wide range of material properties, low processing costs, and potential for complex design fabrication. Common applications for polymer 3D printing include prosthetics in the medical industry, lightweight/high-strength parts for aerospace applications, and inexpensive customized parts for consumers. 

Although 3D printing techniques have advanced substantially over the years, there are still many research challenges in materials, processing, and design. Regarding materials, there is a need for the further creation of polymers with advantageous properties and for measuring the performance of existing printed polymers. Processing challenges include the development of new ways of depositing materials to form a structure and assessing how printing processes influence end-part performance. Addressing challenges in the design of polymers to form lattices, multi-material structures, and stimuli-responsive parts will support applications that utilize these designed features for improved performance and functionality. Addressing these areas of research and further challenges will help in better understanding and utilizing 3D-printed polymers in diverse applications.

This Special Issue welcomes papers on a wide variety of topics in polymer applications in 3D printing and research that support relevant fundamental advances; these applications can range from diverse industries including (but not limited to) medical, aerospace, automobile, electronics, and consumer, with 3D printing processes for extrusion, resin, and powder-based fabrication approaches.

Dr. Paul F. Egan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• design
• 3D printing
• additive manufacturing
• polymer
• applications
• functional materials
• lattices
• mechanics
• plastics
• healthcare